This invention relates to a barge transportation system in which a carrier vessel is used to transport a number of barges across a sea or other vast expanse of water. The vessel is the type that is loaded by floating the barges in and unloaded by floating them out.
In systems of this type (which are shown, for example, in our U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 30,040, 3,978,806, 4,135,468 and 4,147,123) is quite important to hold the barges down against the bottom of the hold, so that a transfer of buoyancy is achieved at times when the hold is flooded. This holding down is important even when the hold is normally dried out during transport, when it acts as a safety feature in case the vessel springs a leak that might endanger the ship, as during storms. It is also important for simply retaining the barges in place against shifting.
Various hold-down systems have been shown in our U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 30,040, 3,978,806, 4,135,468, and 4,147,123. The present invention relates to a simple such system that can be set into action by the crew and which also is relatively low in cost, both in installation and in application, while at the same time being quite reliable.
Among the objects of the invention are the provision of a new hold-down system in a barge transport vessel of the type in which the barges are floated in and out of the hold in which they are stowed, and the provision of an especially efficient and relatively inexpensive and very effective hold-down system.